Senate HELP committee approves higher education bills
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee marked up and approved a slate of 10 bills and nominations on Thursday, including several bills of interest to community colleges. With time running short in the current Congress, the future for all these bills is murky at best.
For community colleges, the highlight of the markup was approval of the College Transparency Act (CTA) ( opens in a new windowS. 2511), a longstanding AACC legislative priority. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the HELP Committee chairman, is the lead sponsor of the bill. The legislation requires the Education Department (ED) to create a student-level postsecondary education data system within four years of enactment, producing better information about educational outcomes while also reducing reporting burdens on colleges. As covered in the opens in a new windowCC Daily, AACC, along with the other major higher education associations, sent a letter of support for the bill to the HELP Committee in advance of the markup. Sen. Moody (R-Florida) opens in a new windowoffered the text of the No Aid for Ghost Students Act as an amendment but withdrew it after Cassidy promised that the committee would vote on that bill in September. While there is broad bipartisan support for the CTA — the HELP committee passed the bill by a vote of 21-1 — there have long been pockets of concerted opposition to the bill in the House, so it is not expected to be enacted this Congress.
In addition to CTA, the committee also unanimously approved another AACC-endorsed bill, the Respond, Innovate, Succeed and Empower (RISE) Act ( opens in a new windowS. opens in a new window 3589). Among other things, the bill would require institutions of higher education to accept certain documentation of a student’s disability, such as an Individual Educational Plan or a Section 504 Plan, rather than require the student to reestablish his or her disability upon entering college.
opens in a new windowAnother bill approved by the committee would prevent ED from transferring certain offices to other agencies. These include the Offices of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Postsecondary Education, Indian Education and Elementary and Secondary Education. An amendment offered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) to also prevent the transfer of the Office of Civil Rights was rejected on a party-line vote.
The committee also approved the State-Based Loan Awareness Act ( opens in a new windowS. 4097), which allows colleges to highlight to their students state-based student loan programs that meet certain requirements.
Finally, Keith Sonderling’s nomination for Secretary of Labor was approved on a party-line vote.
Progress on federal funding inches along
Following the House’s passage of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded until December 4, reports indicate that Senate Majority Leader Jonn Thune (R-South Dakota) plans to bring up a different version of the CR for a vote before the Senate adjourns for its August recess at the end of next week. Congress must enact a CR before October 1 to avoid a government shutdown. Reports indicate that the Senate CR may contain language delaying or blocking the Trump Administration’s proposed opens in a new windowUniform Guidance regulations that would significantly impact the administration of federal grant programs.
In the meantime, Senate appropriators have still not agreed on top-line funding levels for defense and non-defense programs; the absence of bipartisanship at the top of the committee stems in large part from President Trump’s proposed massive increase in defense spending without any corresponding increase in domestic spending. As a result, the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to act on any of the 12 appropriations bills. This delay gives community college leaders an opportunity to continue to advocate for opens in a new windowAACC funding priorities.
Accreditation proposed rule is imminent
ED is expected to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on accreditation very soon. The NPRM would be a virtual carbon copy of the draft regulations approved by the Accreditation, Innovation and Modernization opens in a new window“negotiated rulemaking” committee convened in April and May. AACC will submit comments on the rule. There will likely only be a 30-day comment period.
Cabinet secretaries urge Congress to support IAAs
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, along with several other cabinet secretaries, opens in a new windowsent a letter on Thursday to congressional leadership urging them to support and codify the Inter-Agency Agreements that have transferred (or will transfer) the administration of many Education Department programs to other agencies. Congressional Democrats are vehemently opposed to the IAAs, while most Republicans back them. The House Education and Workforce Committee recently approved several bills that would codify the IAAs, while the Senate HELP Committee this week approved a bill that would prevent ED from transferring several of its offices to other agencies (see above).